Officer says he won't criticise Hillsborough match commander

A former senior police officer has told the Hillsborough inquests that he doesn't want to criticise the other members of the command team because they had a "collective responsibility" for events on the day.

Roger Marshall, who was responsible for controlling the arrival of Liverpool fans at the Sheffield Wednesday ground in 1989, was asked whether match commander David Duckenfield should have left his control box to see the situation developing outside the turnstiles for himself.

On his fourth day of evidence to the court in Birchwood, Warrington, Mr Marshall said: "I am not going to criticise David Duckenfield."

However, the coroner, Lord Justice Goldring, interjected: "It isn't a question of whether you want to or don't want to. It is a question of answering what you are asked. If you have a view, I would like please, that view expressed."

He replied: "I honestly don't feel I can answer that question because the control room was the nerve centre of operations on the day. The match commander's job was to oversee those operations.... I don't know what I would have done in his position."

Paul Greaney QC, representing rank and file police officers, pressed the witness for an answer.

"Do you not accept that by remaining in that control box throughout the critical period as I have described it, Mr Duckenfield was not adopting a good practice but was adopting a poor practice?" he asked.

He replied: "With the benefit of hindsight, it was probably not the best practice."

Mr Marshall said he would have been receptive to advice from the police control box about how he should manage the situation on Leppings Lane.

He agreed that Mr Duckenfield and Superintendent Bernard Murray could see what was happening in the area on CCTV monitors and could view the situation in the central pens from the control box.

The witness also said the pair had time to put measures in place to deal with the consequences of their order to open exit gate C.

The court heard that South Yorkshire Police had not provided Mr Marshall with any crowd safety training prior to the disaster.

He agreed that that was unsatisfactory in hindsight, but said the situation at Leppings Lane was "unprecedented."

Mr Marshall has argued that a large number of fans seemed to arrive close to kick off, with a significant minority determined to get in.

Some, he said, had been drinking and didn't listen properly to his warnings to stop pushing.

Later, the jury again was shown a photograph showing a line of police officers standing in front of bodies moved to the concourse area after the disaster.

A barrister acting on behalf of some of the families last week suggested it showed an inspector providing no assistance.

However, Mr Marshall agreed that the cordon was placed between supporters leaving the ground and the deceased "to protect their dignity."Earlier, the witness was quizzed by a barrister acting on behalf of the Yorkshire Ambulance Service.

Jenni Richards QC asked the witness about the behaviour of the crowd after the disaster as casualties were brought through the tunnel into the concourse area.

He said: "Some of the fans were behaving with altruism but some of the others were not. They were abusing us. I was personally spat on. We were called a lot of obscene names… I was very, very fearful that there was going to be a very serious disturbance on the concourse."

The court heard he had described fans' conduct as "deplorable" in a report made in the month after the disaster.

However, Mr Marshall told the court today that police ignored the behaviour and it did not hamper efforts to assist the injured.

The court has previously heard how former match commander, Superintendent Brian Mole, was moved to work in Barnsley at the end of March 1989.

Mr Greaney asked: "Do you agree that if Brian Mole had been in overall command on 15th April it is unlikely that a single life would have been lost?"

Roger Marshall replied: "I cannot really say that. It’s possible that things might have turned out differently but one can never really know these things."

The barrister continued: "Can you agree that if Mr Mole had made a decision to open gate C, or gates, he would not have done so without deciding how he was going to manage the consequences?"

"I think that is probably, yes," he replied.

The 71 year old agreed that, with hindsight, the decision to move Mr Mole and replace him with Mr Duckenfield so close to the date of the semi-final was a mistake.

Questioned by Fiona Barton QC, representing the current chief constable of South Yorkshire Police, Mr Marshall agreed that the training regime in place in the 1980s was comprehensive and in step with those delivered elsewhere centred on the core function of investigating and suppressing crime.